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13 famous books that had very different working titles

13 famous books that had very different working titles

13 famous books that had very different working titles
10 June 2016

When it comes to writing your first novel, there are three things you'll inevitably lose a lot of sleep over: the beginning, the end, and everything in the middle.

And then there's your title - a snappy name you that must grab your potential reader's attention, beautifully sum up what's in store, and can be easily searchable on Amazon.

No stress, then.

Naming a life-defining novel is a struggle that even the world's most famous writers are all too familiar with, as the following gallery shows.

Here are thirteen world-famous books, all of which had very different names before they saw shop shelves.... 

“All’s Well that Ends Well”

Later known as:War and Peace (1869)

Author: Leo Tolstoy


“First Impressions”

Later known as:Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Author: Jane Austen


“Nobody’s Fault”

Later known as:Little Dorrit (1857)

Author: Charles Dickens


“Mistress Mary”

Later known as:The Secret Garden (1911)

Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett


“Something That Happened”

Later known as:Of Mice and Men (1937)

Author: John Steinbeck


“A House of the Faith”

Later known as:Brideshead Revisited (1945)

Author: Evelyn Waugh


“Atticus”

Later known as:To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

Author: Harper Lee


“The Kingdom by the Sea”

Later known as:Lolita (1955)

Author: Vladimir Nabokov


“Tomorrow Is Another Day“

Later known as:Gone With The Wind (1936)

Author: Margaret Mitchell


“Trimalchio in West Egg”

Later known as:The Great Gatsby (1925)

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald 


“The Last Man in Europe”

Later known as:1984 (1949)

Author: George Orwell


“Strangers from Within”

Later known as:Lord of the Flies (1954)

Author: William Golding


“Four and a Half Years of Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice”

Later known as:Mein Kampf (1925)

Author: Adolf Hitler